Warbird Information Exchange

Since there are danged few airshows to go to around here anymore (except Arlington and it's like the 'big ol' used airplane sale' and less and less experimentals) I grew very tired of announcers who seemed to breathe through their ears as they NEVER SHUT UP!!

The every other weekend flying displays put on by P. Allen suffer from, overly verbose announcers (usually a female with a set of vocal chords that would cut crystal or cause dogs to retch)) and more than a fair bit of 'creative' adlibbing. HINT: STFUWILLYA?

James, I fully agree with you about the average human now being unable to do cognitive thinking or to be able to create an original thought, (lookie! his durned head is smokin'!!) it explains the rising popularity of blather radio, 'don't think, we'll tell you what to believe and believe in' People bitch and gripe about whats on TV but apparently forget that they all come with channel changers and most importantly AN OFF BUTTON!! No one reads a newspaper any more, they trust and believe what falls off the monitor and lands in their laps, if you believe 35% of the crap presented as 'news' online, you must think WIKIPEDIA is a Holy Grail. Where is George Orwell when you really need him?

And Mudge, you truly are a cunning fellow, apparently everyone else missed your double entendre'

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Don't make me go get my flying monkeys-

OK...OK...Sometimes my humor is a bit too obtuse.
It wasn't a VS anything.
But you're right, of course. It had nothing to do with the fact that he is French. It was the fact that bringing the nuances of the French language to English made it difficult to understand what he was saying and thereby it was annoying. It would have been just as annoying if he'd brought the nuances of German or Spanish or even the Cornish accent for that matter.

Mudge the ignorant

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Land of the free because of the brave

I hope to get back to airshows this year. At least two or three. Back in the day my complaint was the phrase "That Merlin engine puts out sixteen hundred and fifty horsepower....." I well remember a guy (a patron not an announcer), about 1984, complaining that ......"Didn't they know there were hundreds of Mustangs and Flying Forts at an old base in Arizona for sale for just hundreds of dollars".....

There is one announcer I have seen who comes from a pretty famous aviation family that couldn't resist telling us all about meeting and later marrying his wife at an airshow. Entirely too much information as far as I am concerned. He did have the voice and knowledge to do a good show.

Lastly my favorite air show moment was watching the local Flying Farmer actually get accosted by some rube who thought he really was drunk as he wandered through the crowd and crossed the safety line. This guy did a great act in a chocolate brown cub.

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"I can't understand it, I cut it twice and it's still too short!" Robert F. Dupre' 1923-2010 Go With God.

Oh no ... it was a British gent for sure, whom I could mostly understand, except, that is, for the use of the word "Brilliant" in place of "Fantastic", as in, That was a brilliant display of Merlins in that last pass ... Granted, my own IQ is sorta low but I kept thinking does it necessarily take a lot of brainpower to fly by the crowd in a set of old aeroplanes?



Wade

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Website: http://www.wademeyersart.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/Wade.Meyers.Studios

Some of you guys greatly underestimate the intelligence and perceptiveness of airshow crowds and the general public, I think. They aren't stupid just because they don't know some things that you do. A lot of what we know about warbirds would not be considered by any intelligent person to be worth knowing.

My experience is that if you treat people as intelligent, 95% of the time it will turn out that they are.

I first heard Mudge's double entendre in the play Cabaret. Not saying he got it from there, but it is an oldie.

August

I'm usually not even aware of the announcer at an air show. The only times I'm actually aware they exist is during the short wait for the next act to take off, which is the only time I actually try to listen since that is when they usually are talking about the upcoming schedule of acts. Most of the time I'm either not near the flightline because I'm looking at the static displays instead of watching the 5th red Pitts of the day do its acro routine, or I'm concentrating on watching the aircraft. I'm pretty good at the whole selective hearing thing, so they're not really that hard to tune out. There are some guys that need to learn how to shut up though.

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Matt

I just remembered waiting for a Corsair pilot to start up, I noticed he looked over his shoulder for the preceding aircraft to finish the runup and start the takeoff roll before he started the R-2800. Unless it was timing for the show, I could say he waited for the noise to abate before starting up just so the crowd could appreciate it. Class act.

Of course if there's a fast jet or a C-5 spooling up 400 feet away, nobody is going to hear a darn thing, which I cannot stand.

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"They done it, they done it, damned if they ain't flew." December 17, 1903

After 20 years of working facing the 'average' public, I remain optimistic...



...but disappointed.

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James K

"Switch on the underwater landing lights"
Emilio Largo, Thunderball.

www.VintageAeroWriter.com

I really never had a problem with announcers. Remember they're being paid to keep the crowd informed, interested and entertained. If the public has a good time, they'll come back. And hopefully that means the difference between an airshow surviving or not. I like to see people around me at a show enjoying watching airplanes, maybe even at a show for the first time, and that they may come away with a greater appreciation. I compare the announcer to a DJ who can make or break a block party or wedding. I've been to some where a DJ anemicaly spins records and everyone goes home early, or one who gets everyone in the mood and dancing where the party goes on for hours.

There is a trend I'm seeing at shows that I don't like. It used to be you had tents with food or merchandise vendors only. Now there are simulators, recruitment theaters on trailers, amusement areas, and larger food vendors and they all seem to be running generators for power or a/c. It seems you really have to try hard to get away from that constant diesel drone. The other thing at the bigger shows is the JUMBOTRON. Who was the brilliant one that decided that these are needed at an airshow? All they do is ruin photography and the view for those who dont have the prime center seating. Anything you need to see at a show is in the sky not on a TV! It's things like these that make me prefer the smaller local shows. (Give me Gennie anyday!)

If there is one complaint about announcers its when they loose situational awarness. They get so caught up in their lecture that they totally miss the flight of 4 mustangs coming in stage right for a bananna pass. Of course my camera is nowhere near ready and I miss the shot. Then of course the flight just returns to land and the opportunity is lost. Grrrrrrrrr!

Pete

Thank you, Chad! I swear, every time we go anywhere there are Warbirds, that ONE Glenn Miller song is playing.

Gary

James, after 34 years of facing the "average" public...IMWICHU

Mudge the cynic

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Land of the free because of the brave

Ok, just turn on a fan, close your eyes and pretend you are there! Oh wait, maybe slather some used oil around!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJE-onnw2gM

Yeah, they only own one CD!

It's true that Glenn Miller wasn't the ONLY recording artist of that time period...but he was the best!

Zack

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Curator - EAA Aviation Museum, Oshkosh, WI
"Let No Story Go Untold!"
http://www.timelessvoices.org

K5083,
The perceptivness of airshow crowds!!?!! I was at an airshow several years ago and saw masterful performances done by Bob Herendeen in the Pitts and Bob Hoover in the Shrike, Herendeen opened both days with a 41 turn flat inverted spin on Saturday and 43 on Sunday, Hoover did his usual smooth as 150 year old Brandy routine and the droolers in the audience drinking beer and eating cold chicken could have cared less, they only stopped burpin' and slurpin' whenever a military jet roared past, 'that was cool man!! but that sissy stuff earlier was a waste of time man' 'I like that bright red one with the smoke and the twirlly thing on the front end of it" (excuse me, would you be talking about the propeller?)The announcers were two local TV newscasters and both rated pilots and they never shut up!

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Don't make me go get my flying monkeys-

The french guy you're talking about is Bernard Chabbert, and despite he's french (and despite his accent), he comments many airshows in France and in England.
I agree he can be a little irritating or annoying for a real aircraft enthousiast (and I suppose you're one of them ) but the main mass of people who attend airshows just for the show seem like his commentary, however, I prefer when he comments in french..plenty of little stories, humor and poetry.
He's also a reknown aircraft journalist and writer, and a true aviation enthusiast, owning himself a Lockheed L-12.

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